A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards"

[Rcmaster199 at aol.com]

I agree with some of that. But I disagree about the judges scoring shown to 
everyone. I believe that would cause more arguments between pilot and judge 
than it would be worth. For regular scored maneuvers not zeros.  

I do like the idea of announcing what is happening during key times in a 
contest, and even a little maneuver by maneuver description may be welcome. There 
are ways to do that now and there are some folks who excel at that kind of 
thing. Employ them, not flashcards or sign language. The caveat is WHAT 
AUDIENCE?? Pattern contests don't have 'em. The color commentary guy would be talking 
to himself.

If we did some marketing upfront and got the spectators, like they do in 
Japan and Europe, then this just might  work. But then how would you keep the 
sounds of the color commentary from affecting the judge's scores?? Nah, I don't 
like it!!

Mkatt K




> Subj:Re: A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards" 
> Date:4/17/2004 3:53:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time
> From:patterndude at comcast.net
> Reply-to:discussion at nsrca.org
> To:discussion at nsrca.org
> Sent from the Internet 
> 
> 
> 
> More open communication will help the sport, in my opinion.  I have invited 
> friends and family to contests to watch.  I have talked to news stations that 
> come to contests to report.  I have been part of contests where we get a 
> bunch of local club volunteers to help out.  the comments by all these groups of 
> people is exactly the same: viewers have no idea what is going on or what 
> they are watching and they get bored very quickly and never want to return.  
> When is a particular flight significant?  All the manuvers look great to the 
> uninitiated, so showing them scores along the way will develop their 
> appreciation.Watching golf is boring to most people, even golfers - but at least they 
> play a different hole each time.  We fly the same thing over and over.  
> Posting manuver scores and announcing pilots is the only way to connect with any 
> spectator.
>  
> Internally, within our own secret society, the value stems from improved 
> communications.  We'll all get better practice at judging, even if we only watch 
> an occasional manuver, judge it, and then compare our score to the real 
> judges.  If the real judge is a person we respect, we might identify something to 
> talk over a beer later.
>  
> --Lance
>  
> 
> >> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: Rcmaster199 at aol.com 
>> To: discussion at nsrca.org 
>> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 2:05 PM
>> Subject: Re: A possible answer to lousy judging "Flash cards"
>> 
>> 
>> Mike Im not sure why everyone "needs" to see the scores each judge gives. 
>> The spectator sport is to watch the flying, not kill the judge if the 
>> spectator does not agree with the judge's scoring habits
>> 
>> Years ago we used to employ a chief judge at many local meets. One of the 
>> jobs of the chief judge was to review the judges' scoring habits, and sort of 
>> look over their shoulder. He would often discuss issues with the judges 
>> after a round. I know I did, and so did my judging mentor. This was never 
>> intended to alter the judges' standards and seldom did. The reviews simply would 
>> touch on specific issues observed.
>> 
>> Now only the large meets employ a chief judge and that's good, but isn't 
>> enough in my opinion. I wouldn't mind at all if we started to employ chief 
>> judges again. It is of particular importance now, with contestant judging the 
>> norm, and new blood entering the arena all the time
>> 
>> Although discussion with the contestant after his round is done, is 
>> discouraged in the present methodology of running the contests, I tend to give some 
>> constructive criticism to some contestants when I feel they are making the 
>> same mistakes often . Sportsman and Intermediate pilots are particularly 
>> vulnerable to misinterpretation of the geometries or rules, but others have 
>> also been informed of what I see. Not everyone is open to this so I am careful 
>> and discrete. I see many seasoned judges do this and I feel is a far better 
>> approach than showing all one's scores. 
>> 
>> The seasoned pilot usually already knows what he has done wrong so talking 
>> with him or her, other than praising him or her for a well flown round, is 
>> counterproductive. But the folks in the lower classes, particularly the new 
>> ones with possibly little real exposure to other Pattern pilots back home, 
>> would benefit the most.
>> 
>> MattK
> 

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